The Effect Of Emotional Anthropomorphic On Purchase Intention

Today’s society has entered the era of "Internet+".Consumers can easily conduct remote transactions through various e-commerce platforms as the development of e-commerce.Due to the absence of traditional sales staff to deliver information face-to-face,e-commerce companies are constantly exploring better ways of presenting information in the hope of gaining higher conversion rates and generating greater profits for themselves.The use of anthropomorphic means of the product and presenting information is a common exploration.However,anthropomorphism does not always have a positive marketing effect,so it is worth exploring how it can be better used.Based on the marketing environment in the Internet scenario,this study explored the influence of the emotional anthropomorphism on the purchase intention under positive and negative framings and explored the the mediating role of perceived value and the moderating role of self-construction.There are various ways of anthropomorphism,and emotional anthropomorphism is an internal anthropomorphism,which refers to attaching human emotions to non-human entities and using them to be perceived as human(Marin,2006).Most studies have chosen one scenario with either a positive or negative information framework,and few have explored the impact on corresponding emotional anthropomorphism based on both positive and negative information frameworks.This study explores the different effects of emotional anthropomorphism on perceived value and purchase intention by assigning an emotional anthropomorphism to the product based on two scenarios: getting the offer and missing the offer,and examining the moderating role of self-construction in the process.The following conclusions were drawn from two preliminary work and four experiments with two materials.(1)Emotional anthropomorphism had a significant effect on consumers’ purchase intention.(2)The perceived value mediated the effect of anthropomorphism on purchase intention.(3)The framings mediated the effects of anthropomorphism on purchase intention via moderating perceived value.Under the positive framework,emotional personification improves consumers’ purchase intention.In the negative frame,emotional personification reduces consumers’ purchase intention.(4)The self-construal mediated the effects of anthropomorphism on purchase intention via moderating perceived value.This paper refines the study of anthropomorphism theory in the consumer realm in the course of practical research,especially for emotional anthropomorphism.It also expands the intersection of framings,perceived value and self-construction with anthropomorphism,which is important for the theoretical study of anthropomorphism.Moreover,It might provide a guideline for companies to use anthropomorphism in the consumption field.Anthropomorphism is more appropriate when conveying ’good news’,and sympathetic anthropomorphism when communicating ’bad news’ can have a negative impact on purchase intentions.